Television receiving apparatus



y 1937- L.'A. GOULD TELEVISION RECEIVING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 30, 1931 4 4 Sheets-Sha er, l

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ll ulfitter/nay July 6, 1937. L. A. GOULD v2,086,382

TELEVIS ION RECEIVING APPARATUS Filed on. 30. 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 lllll July 6, 1937.

L. A. GOULD TELEVISION RECEIVING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 30, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet s IIIHMIIII IIllllllllllllllllllllllll July 6, 1937.

TELEVI SI Filed Oct. 30. 1931 I.-. GOULD 2,086,382 0N RECEi VING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I 'zwzz'eAaouze-z/ 7 INVENTOR.

ATfORNEY Patented July 6, 1931 UNITED s'rATEsPA i-mr ome ssssssa 6 11111, Brid port, Conn, assignorto Radio Inventions, Inc, New dork. N. Y., a corn poration of New York Application October so. im, Serial No. swear:

This invention relates tn television receiving apparatus and more particularly to the iiluthese optical signals'in time and space, as to reconstruct the optical image whose translation into electrical signals at the transmitter gave rise to the received television signals.

, oi this invention includes scanning received and translated sig- In particular, the method nals by moving in one direction the electrooptical translatin device-itself. and by moving in "another direction some other unidirectional .scanningmeans. More precisely. this invention includes the -method of television reception by moving luminous signai r'esponsive tub'es so as to scan in one dimension. while scanning in the other dimension by other suitablemeans. j

It has for one object to provide a device of this character. which will give a larger and clearer picture with greater illumination than can be secured with the devices at present employed. and which will do this with mechanism that requires much less space and is much more simple in construction than the present rnecha tion over the entire picture and will give a larger picture without the loss oi illumination that is common at the present time when the common small picture oi approximately one inch square is enlarged. 1

Another object of the invention-is to provide a device which willgive greater illumination and.

a brighter picture with less current. Still .another object is to provide a device of this character with which black and. white ie-- Still another object is to provide a receiving.

device with which the images are produced by what is in effect anilluminated line of the desired width and are scanned by means oi slots inclined to the illuminated'line so that the two together have the eiiect of moving apertures.

55 Withthe foregoing and other Objects-iii view drawings' iorming apart oi" this speciflcation.

-be employed withoup departing from the prinl'ig. l is a top .plan diagrammatically the scanning portion of the receiving apparatusshowing one iorm oi'my in- Y vention. the topoi the enclosing cabinet being removed circuit which may be employed.-

as will become apparent as description pro.- ceeds. the invention consists in certain novel reatures of construction. combinations and arrange'ment of parts as: more. fully disclosed in connection with-the accompanying and although certain "speciilc'constructions are disclosed, varlmsphanges and modifications may ciples oi the invention.

In these drawings:

. v 1.0 view showing. somewhat Fig. 2 is aside elevation-thereof, the enclos ing cabinet being shown insection. Fig. 3 is a detail "section substantially, on line s-sormgi.

Fig.4 isa wiring diagram of one electrical Fig. 5 is a wiring diagram showing. a dinerent manner of connecting the illuminating elen mentsintocircuit. Fig. 8 is a detail elevation or one form of the scanningdevice.

Fig. 7 is an end viewoi a modified form of scanning device. It isalso anobject oi the invention to provide a device which will give more uniform illuminarig. 8 is it view 'the'reoi loolring mm the right 30 o .l'lg. i Y

rigs is a side elevation era modified construction oi an illuminating element,'with. pjarts broken away to show'more clearly the tonstruc tion.-

Fig. 10 is an end view j Fig. 11 is asomewhat diagrammaticai side view showing a modified construction piilluminatihg I Fig. 12 is a side; elevation of another form oi o scanning-deviceusing my invention. w

. Fig. 13 is a front eievation'oi the apparatus Fig. 14 shows schematically jthe electrical 'circuitemploye'd with'the iormoi. Figsflzrimd 13.

It has been commonpracticein television, re-

ceiving apparatus to use as the-illuminating element, a neon or tube' having a plate eiectrode of approximately oneinchsquar'e or n little larger. with this type oietube the amount of illumination is limited and it is dimclilt to.

. illuminate the plate uniformly over its surface.

this diiilculty often giving a picture which isnot uniformly illuminated. the T-size-oi re- .sultantpicture is limited. becauseii the image or by a tube so constructed as to give the effect of a plurality of tubes or sources of illumination,

and scan these tube structures in producing the picture, thus securing a relatively. larger picture with relatively smaller apparatus, as well as a picture which is uniformly illuminated throughout itsentire area.

I am able also to secure sumcient illumination so that the picture can be enlarged andthrownon a screen. I prefer to use a gas column type of tube as it gives'more uniform illumination, requires less current and responds more quickly to modulation corresponding to the impulses, of the received signal, although 1 am 1 not necessarily limited to gas column type of tubes, but may use electrode type tubes if desired. While I have referred to the illumination as a line, it is to be understood that this does not necessarily mean a line of very narrow width but means a long, relatively narrow illuminated element of any desired width and length.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 6, the illuminated element comprises a rotatable support l2, in the cm shown in these figures substantially a drum mounted to rotate on a horizontal axis represented by the supporting shaft I 3 running in any suitable bearings II in supports II. Carried by this rotating support or drum'is a plurality of tubes I 8! preferably of the gas column type such-for example as neon tubes which, in

the present instance, are shown as being connected in series by leads I! although they may be connected in any other suitable way as hereinafter described. They may be mounted on and secured to the support by any suitable means such for example as the straps it. They may be grounded atone end on this support or have a separate collector ring and brush, and at the other end are connected to the modulating apparatus by lead ll, having a brush 20 engaging a ring 2| on the support. The brush 20 and ring 2| of course should be insulated from the frame of the apparatus. I

As the support l2 rotates, the lighted tubes carriedthereupon may be scanned by a suitable scanning device of which I-have shownv several different forms. In Figs. 1 to 6, the scanning device comprises a disc 22 mountedto rotate in front of the support 12 and the tubes carried thereby. The tubes may be scanned direct or through a suitable lens 22 mounted between the disc and therotating support, and the disc may be mounted at any suitable location between the rotating support carrying the lights and the point of observation indicated at 24. The support 12 and the scanning disc 22 are'rotated'in proper timed relation and in synchronism with the transmitting apparatim by any suitable means such asp synchronous motor 2|. In the present instance, the disc 22 is shown as mounted directly on the shaft 2l-of the motor, and there is a connection from this shaft indicated generally as a flexible drive 2.! for driving the support l2 in certain timed relation with the disc 22, the drive indicated-being aworm 28 meshing with a, worm In my present invention, I use what is in aosases fifteen pictures a second and have 48 dines-per picture. Then with the support or drum I2 carrying six tubes l8 as illustrated and rotating 150 R. P; M., it would be necessary for'disc 22 to rotate 1800 R. P. M. ifit has 24 slots 32. This will give 48 lines for each picture. In other words, with the drum or support l2 rotating at 150 R. P. M. with six tubes we would secure 900 pictures a minute, that is, a picture for each Ye revolution of the drum.

'Thus, referring to Fig. 2. a picture will be indicated by the movement of a tube I! from the position A to the position Bin front of aperture 31 corresponding to of a revolution. As the tube passes off the line of vision at the point B, the next sucoeeding'tube has reached the point A which is the beginning of the next picture, so that there is continuous illumination of the 48 lines for scanning or making up the picture. It will, therefore, be necessary that 48 of theslots 32 pass across in front of the drum l2 while each greater or less number of tubes or running at greater or less speeds, or with a disc 22 having a different number of slots. Thus, with the same drum .l2 and the.six tubes as illustrated and running at the same speed, if disc 22 had only 12 slots 32 it would be necessary 'to run it at twice the speed or 3800 R. P. M. to secure the same number of scanning lines per picture, or if disc 22 had 36 slots 32 it would be necessary town itonly 1200 R. P. M.

It is understood that the foregoing numerical values are merelyv illustrative of certain possiblecombinations, and that if a different number of bottom and'iromlei't to right.- That is, the support or drum l2 rotates to theright or clockwise as viewed in Fig. 2 while the disc 22 rotates to the left or counter clockwise as viewed in Fig. 3,

orclockwise as viewed from the observer's posi tion at 24, which would carry the slots '22 from left to right across the tubes it.

It will be apparent from this that the tubes it are each in effect g1 illuminated'heavy line extending horizontally and longitudinally of the axis of rotation ll, the width of this line depending on thesige of the tubes or the portion of their illuminated surface which is-visible. It also will be noted from Fig. 6 that the slots 82 are injclined relative to these illuminated lines or tubes it, and therefore, a point at which they cross, indicated at 22 in Fig. 6, is in eifect an aperture, either rectangular or wedge shaped, which is carried along the full length of theilluminated tube by the movement of the disc 22. This gives greater illumination than is secured with the old type of scanning apparatus using a series. of

smallround apertures. The lineswalso I :I can secure pictures of practically-any size deblend more uniformly and bette giving a more and more continuous picture.

with this-apparatus I can secure a much larger picture and a much more brilliantly illuminated picture than with the old type of apparatus. Thus, with a' 12 inch drum'andusingtubeswith an illuminatedflpart' about 6 inches long I can secure fully illuminated pictures about '6 inches square, and withlarger drums andlonger tubes,

sired and the entire picture willbe fully a'nduniformly' illuminated. ;If itis desired to view the picture directly at 2!, the lens at 24 may be removed and thelens Itcould be a concave lens (as with a convex the image would appear inverted) or if acohvex-lens is used-at 23 then there could mounted thereon.

be used a projecting lens at It to project an erect age upon a screen. The lenses also tend to more brilliant. f 'lfpreferred, the lenses may. be omitted-and the picture viewed directly.

' It will be evidentrthat-with the fiat-disc 22 as one scanning element, it must be ofconsiderable size inorderto the requisite number of slots, andalso as the'slots extend radially as indicated in Pig. 6 the picture will be slightly distorteddue to'the angle of change of these slots,

the linesbeing slightly curved. To reduce the size of the scanning means-and make the apparatus more compact and reduce distortion, I can use the scanning device shown-in Figs. 7 and 8. In this device, the illuminating tubes it are carried on the same type of support or drum H, but the scanning element is a second drum II surrounding the first drumand the light tubes This scanningdrum has a series of inclined slots-t5 which are carried across the light tubes in, the scanning. ration; That is, with the drum rotating cloc as viewed in Fig. 7, the scanning drum- 3'4 'will rotate counter clockwise, i.-e., in the opposite direction, and the slotsjiil are so inclined that they will scan the tubes from left to right. Thus,- asthe left hand and upper end -38 of a slot moves onto the left hand end of the illuminated portion 38 of the tube It as indicated by the 'dot and dash lines in Fig 8 the right hand end 88 of the next upper slot has just moved off the right hand end of the 11mm:-

. nated portion so that they do not overlap but aceach other and in synchronism with the transmitting apparatus. Various driving mechanisms may be used as desired. Thus, ii the-worm ll,

Fig. 8, is driven directly from the motor drive and meshes with the gear 29 on-the shaft is for the drum i2 and the drum isthus driven 150 R. P; It, suitable step-up gearing may be employed to drive the drum It at the proper. Thus, a large. gear 40 may be mounted. on the shaft l8 and througheertain sized gearing as a smaller pinion- H on a counter shaft-ll and through other gear-.

ing 48, M. and may drive'the drum-flat the proper speed. the gear 5 being connected to this drum. Or, if preferred, the drum may be driven from the motor armature shait aosassa concentrate thelight rays and make the picture a andthedrumitrnaybedrivenfrolnitbyreducins gear.

, In the form of device shown in Figs. 1 he s,

the illuminating elements It are separate tubes mounted on the rotating support ordrum and electrically oonnectedtogether. Howevema sin g le tube may be used if preferred, as indicated in Figs. -9 and 10. In this form of device, the

drum 46 corresponds to the drum-l2 in the'first form and the single tube 41 is bent in sigzagform back and forth and mountedon the drum, Theend flanges may have suitably shaped to receive the conne portions 50 of the tube between the horizontal or illuminated portions II. The tubes may thenbe secured in these recesses and all except the proper length of horisontalportions Ii covered by means of-hoopsor 1 rings 82. This provides ajeries of spaced hog-izontal illuminated portions," corresponding to the spaced. tubes It of thefirst form BMW the same eifect in both instances so that where spaced tubes are mentioned in the 4 this is intended to .cover either arrangement. The tube '41 of Figs. 9 and 10 may belightedinthesameman ner as that in Fig. 1 except that one end of the tube may be grounded and the other connected by lead 88 to the insulated discjl cooperat ng with the brush 20 connected to the modula apparatus as in the first form.

It will be apparent that as the tubes travel from point A to point-B,'which is the scanning portion of a revolution, they move in a slight curve and produces slightly curved held in the resulting picture. but-it is'soslightas to'be nonobiectionable. However, a perfectly flat field may be secured by'mounting the tubes on a flexible belt it running over pulleys or drums 84' as indicated in Fig. 11, the tubes being scanned while on one of the straight sections of the belt. Of course, the intensity 0! illumination of. the

gas column type of it and II is modulated according to the impulses received.- In Fig. 4, I

have shown diagrammatically a wiring -layout in'which 55 is the tubeofthe last stage of the audio amplifier of any receiving set and the plate output lea through aradio frequency choke coil 56 to an oscillatoril which may be of the 250 or 210 type tube and whose output energizes the tubes 16. I prefer to use a high frequency oscillator for. energizing the tubes as the tubes are energised with less voltage when such high frequency current is employed. Also the oscillator is an amplifieras well as an oscillator, so that it increases amplification oi the signals. .In'this type of tubes the gas column glows;- as distinguished from the plate type-oi gas tube in which the plate glows. The tubes are also cheaper to make, as no glowing electrodes are required in the tubes. The tubes may be connected to any suitable regeneration control It, and current may be supplied to the filament of the tube I! by any suitable type of fllament'transformer Bl. The

connection shown in Fig. d is known as the Heising system of modulating, but, of course, other vceivingsiet.

All of the-tubes II or II can be of the samecolor-if desired. .but by using diii'erently colored tubes ,we canreoeive colored pictures in this ap- ,paratus provided the broadcast isr for example, 75 1 black line pictures, the received pictures will also be black tine pictures. Thus, with the apparatus having alternately diflerently'colored lamps, we.

can receive either black line pictures or colored pictures without changing the apparatus in any way, depending solely on whether black line or colored pictures are being broadcast from the sending station. Likewise the object at the sending station may be scanned directly and red and green lights alternately flashed upon it, or the 29 light from the image may be passed alternately through red-and green shutters for the alternate pictures. This device, of course. is not limit- I ed to two colors as red and green, as-three different colors such as blue, yellow and red may be used in the same manner. This device may be used with either system of scanning the object, that is either where the scanning disc breaks into lines the light reflected from the object or where the disc'projects as lines the illumination from so the light source. That is, in one system the object is subjected to full lighting of high-intensity,

while in the other it is rapidly scanned by a pencil of light.

It will be'evident from the foregoing descrip- 38 tion that this system is a very simple one re-, quiring very simple. mechanism, and that,much

larger pictures, with more intense and uniform illumination can be secured with much smaller apparatus than in the old type of devices. As the rotating members are much smaller, there is much less vibration due to the required speed of rotation and there are much smaller centrifugal forces to overcome and control. The combination of the strip of light or line of light of a iven width produced by the illuminated tube with the inclined slots in the scanning elements gives the effect of apertures, and because of their relation much more light can be transmitted andtheseapertures all blend oneinto theother as they move across the illuminated elements. Of course, the intensity through this resulting aperture is modulated by the radio receiving appara-' tus according to the impulses received from the transmitting station. This modulation, that is, increased or decreased intensity of illumination 7 of the tubes according to the signals received gives the effect of the'relatively light and dark lines in the pictures, that is, the lines of varying intensity produce the eil'ect of the'picture. With this apparatus the size of the picture received may be verygreat if desired.- For" example, by using a two-foot drum l2 carrying illuminatingelements with corresponding increase'in size of the scanning element we can secure a picture one foot square and having thesame relative intensity of illuminationas a smaller picture.

In the form of device shown injl'lg's. 12 to 14, the illuminating elements. .are separate tubes I. with'terminals I mounted on a rotating 'sup- 7o portor drum and electrically connected together. at one end through the commonagency of a slip ring ll, upon which bears a brush I connected to the high potential terminal of the high frequency circuit; If the illuminated tubes are to be t i operated from a circuit similar to that or Fig. 4.

' horizontal direction 'by moving said lens and its said tubes are preferably not conductively connected to any circuit or to one another at the other ends, but are each effectively connected, by means of their electrical capacity, to the end plate 62 of the'drum, said end plate being con- 6 nected to the low-potential terminal of the highfrequency circuit. End plate 82 should then be? of a conducting material and the other end plate 63 may be of an insulating material.

The equivalent circuit of'thev tubes, slip ring, 10

and end plate 82 is shown in Iflg.1l"4, andthe combination may be inserted in the circuitof Fig. 4' in place of the tubes and series capacity there shown. i

This constitutes parallel excitation of branch circuits each comprising one tube and a series capacity, in distinction from' the single series circuit ,of Fig. 4. l

' Tubes 80 may be supported in V-grooves 64 out in the periphery of end plates 82 and ll, by'20 means of spring wire clips ll a tached to said end plates and engaging a tube at each side of the point of said attachment.

These tubes may also derive their excitation current through a suitable capacitative type of slip ring. That is instead of the brush actually bearing upon the slip ring, it can beof suitable size to afford suflicient capacity-by its proximity tethering.

The line-scanning 'flevice in this form of the apparatus comprises a drum 8 in which a plurality of longitudinalslitsll, are cut, preferably with beveled edges. Theaxis o'f'said drum may be at a considerable angle or'perpendicular to the axis of tubes 80. A stationary mirror ll may be supported within drum I by means of bracket Cl and serves as the medium in which the image is viewed. The length of slits l-I may be approximately equal to the spacing of tubes ill and will normally 'determine the apparent height, of the image, while the circumferential spacing of said slits will normally determine the apparent opticalsystem allows a smaller diameter of drum ll, other things remaining equal.

An external framing stop II with viewing aper-' ture I2 may be provided to limit the visible image to'slightly more than a single complete picture. Horizontal movement of the lens I. and its frames Il' upon guides II and 14 may be allowed, in which case the image may be centered inthe ll attached to lower framell'. A friction clutch member such as gefriction' frames alongthe guides as by means of a handle disc ll attached to endplate I and engaging friction disc l'l whichv is-rotatable on shaft 18 and is driven from the body of sprocket I9 (also rotatable on shaft 10) by means. of. a helical spring It, may be provided to rotate the drum carrying tubes I. In,:this case a brake shoe 1 8| actuated by lever l2-and acting on slip'ring I may be used to-frame the. image vertically by causing an angular "slip" in the rotation of said drum when the brake is applied. v

Sprocket 19 may be rotated by means of a motor 84 through the agency of a worm ll fixed on shaft I. of said motor, gear 81 cooperating with 78 ars- - 12, 13, and 14 is free from the shape-distortion of the elementary optical area, which takes place when the two scanning members do not optically intersect so as to produce a true rectangle. The slotted drum of this type often presents mechanical advantages in regard to its construction and operation, in comparisonwith a slotted disc.

The parallel connection of the tubes in this form, allows a more suitable effective load to be obtained for a simple oscillator, employing relatively 1ow-anode potentials. Ifhe impedance in series with each tube allows a more uniform illumination when the individual tubes are of differing characteristics, and the net resultant capacity of the whole can be made resonant with v the inductance feeding it, formaximum efliciepicy.

I claim: 1. In television receiving apparatus, a rotatable support, illuminating elements comprising a plurality of spaced gas column type tubes on said support, the alternate tubes being of different colors, means for modulating the illumination of said tubes, and a scanning means associated with said support.

2. In a television receiving apparatus, a rotatable support, a plurality of spaced light producing elements of substantially rectangular shape and uniform width mounted on said support and extending longitudinally of its axis of rotation, the alternate elements being of different colors, means for modulating the illuminating intensity of said elements, a slotted scanning member rotatable relative to said support,

and means for rotating the support and scanning member in certain'timed relation to each other so that at least one of said light producing elements is visible at all times.

3. A television receiver including a plurality of light producing elements in substantially linear form, means for moving said elements so as to scan in'one dimension, optical refractive means receiving the light fromsaid light producing elements, means for scanning in the other direction receiving the light from said optical refractive means, and optical refractive means receiving the light from said second scanning means.

4. A television scanner including a colored light source reproducing television signals, means for moving said source so that it traverses at least one dimension of the scanning field, a second differently colored light source also reproducing televisionsignals, means for causing said second source to entersaid scanning field after said first source has left said field and to traverse at least one dimension of. said field, said light sources all traversing substantially identical physical paths during their movement across said field, said light sources acting to scan said field in one dimension by their respective movements thereacross, andalso including separate means for scanning said field in the other dimension, operative cojointly withsaid light source scanning means'so as to accomplish substantially complete scanning of said field.

5. In television receiving apparatus, a rotatable support, a plurality of illuminated elements in substantially linear form and mounted on said support, alternate illuminated elements being of difierent colors, means for modulating the illumination of said illuminated elements, and a scanning means associated with saidsupport.

6. In a television receiving apparatus, arotatable support, a plurality of spaced light producing elements of substantially linear form mounted on said support, extending longitudinally of its axis of rotation and operating so as to project an illuminated field, means for modulating the light produced by said elements, a-

slotted scanning member rotatable relative tosaid support, means for rotating the'support and the scanning member in certain timed. relation 1 to' one another and a substantially .cylindrical lens increasing the. apparent distance apart 0 the slots in said scanning member.

LESLIE A. GOULD. 

